From the Don: How to get Featured on (and Write for) WoW Insider

Matt’s note: Not exactly a WoW gaming related post. Feel free to mark as read and come back tomorrow. In fact, Matticus won’t be writing today since he has to get his other 2 wisdom teeth yanked and is in no condition to blog. Today’s post will come from Don Marco Matticus, one of Matt’s many relatives.

Ah greetings. I’ve pestered my dear cousin to write on his beloved blog for so long. I am, shall we say, delighted to be able to publish my intellect for others to consume. I am a far better writer than my dear cousin is after all.

Before I start, we all need to make a fundamental assumption. Let us all assume I, Don Marco Matticus, is the reigning overlord of WoW Insider. I know it will never happen but just run with me on this one, okay?

Let us also assume that you yourself are a creative gaming enthusiast with a passion for writing. In other words, you play video games and you like to write about video games. Heck, let’s narrow the focus even more. You’re a diehard WoW player and you want to write about it. And you want to get paid to write about it. Don’t you? Because all of us are little peasants at heart.

We can refer to that peasant as Matt Demon.

Or alternatively you are a headstrong gaming enthusiast who thinks your opinion and written word is that of God. You think that what you say is always right and anyone who disagrees is pure blasphemy. Not only that, you think you can do a way better job than the staffers at WoW Insider and continue to wonder to yourself what these turkeys and clowns are doing writing all this stuff when you can do a far better job than they despite the fact that you have no experience of your own.

I call those people snobs. Back in my day, people like that would get a good old fashioned kneecapping. If I thought they were real bozos I’d cap their elbows so they wouldn’t write again.

Again, you might not feel this way but just please bear with me.

Right, now where was I?

Oh yes, Don Marco Matticus, Supreme Overlord and Editor in Chief (hypothetically). Here’s a brief list on what matters, what doesn’t, and how to boost your odds of getting in (if I were in charge).

Getting in: There are two ways to go about it. You can apply or the Don can hunt you down himself and pitch you an offer. Understand that the Don has Troll headhunters at his disposal. If the Don wants you to write for him, he will make it known. If you apply via EMail, Fax, IM, or carrier pigeon, I’ll consider it. If you’re lucky and I’m in a particularly generous mood, I might even reply.

Formal education doesn’t matter: Formal refers to things like degrees and doctorates. If you apply to me waving around the fact that you have a Ph.D, a Masters, and assorted Bachelor’s in Journalism, English, and Demonslaying I’m not going to care a whole lot. The fact is that when it comes to blogging, anyone can do it if they commit. Don’t get me wrong. Formal education can help. But it is not the be all/end all. You want to impress the brass? Start your own blog first! Prove that you can write creative and quality stuff often. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. Don’t come to me with the degree saying you can write. Show me that you can write because I don’t care about your piece of paper.

Spelling and grammar still important: If you apply via e-mail and you make the Don’s eyes bleed, then the Don will make the logical assumption that you will make the audience’s eyes bleed. Making the eyes of my reader bleed is bad for business. It scares away potential readers and ad clickers. Ad clicking is crucial to my survival. Without it, the Don will not survive. Please write clearly, check your grammar, and your spelling.

Deadlines: Don Marco Matticus needs to have material out every hour on the hour. Columnists that write weekly have a set date to reach something by. However, if it is an epic piece that requires an extra day or two, that is fine. But it must be epic. There are certain pieces that need to come up every day at a particular time.

Writing topics: You may not agree with or like what you’re writing about. But the news (like spice) must flow! You may be tapped from time to time to report on major or breaking news and provide a brief opinion or translation of what it could mean. Doesn’t matter if you’re wrong or right. If you’re wrong, the masses will tell you. If you’re right, the masses will tell you that you’re wrong anyway.

Freedom of writing: Don Marco Matticus usually needs to approve what gets written for the masses to see. You think I’ll just let people read any ol’ crap that comes out? The vaults of the Matticus family may be large, true. But they are not limitless. You will be compensated fairly for the work you do. No one cares about you killing Mag for the 20th time. That’s why an element of creativity is a key asset to those that wish to join the Don. There are no limits to the amount of stories you can write. There is no cap as long as you don’t write crap.

Have really thick skin: Are you one of those players that cry every time your raid leader picks on you? Then forget it! I do not take those of weak minds under my fold! You will be insulted, your words torn apart, your name mocked on a daily basis. I received E-Mails on a daily basis calling for your head! Of course, I am far more wiser than anyone gives me credit (especially that Matticus). You will be critically criticized so hard every proc on the planet will occur. It will test the very foundations of your character. Can you endure it? Be aware that every fact you list will be checked. Every opinion you write, analyzed. Every breath you take, scrutinized. The ability to handle criticism and not lash out at the masses (however uneducated they may be) is extremely important.

Payment: You will get paid in sacks of rice, beans, or gold. It all depends on my mood. I will pay 2000 gold coins for a thousand words and half of that for half the amount! If you do an image gallery for me, then a sack of beans per image will be sent to your home. Should you write more than I ask, the Don appreciates your hard work. But you shall still only get 2000 gold per post.

Is it enough for you to quit your day job? It depends on how much of a lavish life you decide to live. The possibility is there.

Retroactive editing: So you made a mistake. The Don is very forgiving. Sometimes those crazy Blizzard fools will make you look bad by making a change that has ruined your post and made you look like a complete moron. As a result, the masses have decided to rain on your parade. You can always edit them after the fact. And we don’t use this Wordpress garbage that my cousin so heavily relies on to power the blog.

Do not insult my minions: That honor belongs to me. You spit on my peasants and I will send my Corehounds after you. Only I can criticize my workers. If you apply and even mention any of my staffers in a negative light, your message will be shredded immediately. The family is everything. You insult one, you insult all. Did they even teach you social skills?

Keep all of these in mind should you decide to apply for any major WoW publishing service. They all have standards. Not any mindless, bumbling fool can get in. Even though it may appear that way, these minions do know what they’re talking about and get paid for a reason. You are not. The only way for you to oust my companions is for me to fire them or for them to step down. Your opinion and word mean absolutely nothing to the Don.

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Space Goat Live (Shadow and Light): Another healer blog

Don’t have the time for a real coherent post right now since I’m in school (learning about the Youth Criminal Justice System). Got an email from Naelum shamlessly plugging a series of posts. Its an overview of all 4 healing classes at the end of Burning Crusade displaying their individual strengths and weaknesses.

Check it here.

Note: I don’t mind it when people send me links to read via EMail or otherwise. I’ve got so much stuff on my plate that I don’t have time to search things out or clean out my reader. With that being said, if someone goes through the trouble of EMailing or PMing or Morse Coding me a page or blogpost they thing is awesome, I’ll read it. Yes, that is right, I’ve started to outsource my blog reading :(.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ll read everything eventually. If the title’s boring, I’ll mark as read. If the intro paragraph doesn’t hook me, I’ll pass. But the ones that catch my attention usually jump to the top of the line because a simple EMail makes all the difference. And if I like what I read, I’ll try to share it here. I know I don’t do a good enough job shining the spotlight on other starter blogs or even to the more established ones. Thats a failure and a mistake in my own right and I apologize for not recognizing the work and effort of my blogging colleagues.

5 Rejected WoW Blog Ideas

Image courtesy of alifarid

A lot of WoW Bloggers I know of suffer from Altitus wherein they have so many alts and appear to have a hard time trying to focus on one. While I do have multiple healer alts myself, I’ve maximized my time accordingly and powered them individually so that they are all fairly high level characters. All of them (sans the Druid) are capable of healing Black Temple and Mount Hyjal on their own.
But this post isn’t about Altitus. I suffer from a unique ailment.

I’m afflicted with Blogitus.

There are more WoW blogs out there than Netherweave on the auction house. All it takes is a really killer idea in a niche to set it apart from the rest (so that we don’t end up with another hunter or another druid blog. Not that they’re bad or anything). I quickly examined Blog Azeroth and my reader to try and find out what already existed. Class blogs were out of the question so it boiled down to what I thought people might be interested before mentally shooting it down.

Herez Pilton

What it could’ve been: It’s a play on words off of two different things. The celebrity gossip website Perez Hilton and the in game character Haris Pilton.
Why it got rejected: How much effort and how much entertainment would all that drama actually be? Perez spends 18 hours a day chasing down leads and photos. For this to really work, I’d have to spend copious amounts of time on the WoW Realm forums daily. I don’t have that kind of time to offer, unfortunately.

Prohealer.com

What it could’ve been: A site with numerous healer bloggers culd go and contribute. Would have featured multiple authors and guest posts from favourite names in the community.
Why it got rejected: Difficult to micromanage. Don’t have the resources or the time to invest in it as much as I’d want. Would have to score major cooperation from other writers. Although, I might actually explore this idea later in the future. I’m a chronic project starter.

RaiderRant

What it could’ve been: Nothing more than a rant blog about bad raids and bad guilds. Diary style. Similar to Waiter Rant. It would’ve been day-to-day entries from a raider and 5 minute windows of their raid life. Probably would’ve been updated once or twice a week to help avoid stagnation.
Why it got rejected: My Guild isn’t at the point where I want to rant about them on a weekly basis. A blog like this needs to have some diversity. Readers would tire quickly about stories about the Mage that can’t tank Gruul’s or the idiot hunter who can’t seem to click cubes. Has to be some randomness and the writer has to be able to captivate the audience.

Consuma-blog

What it could’ve been: An extremely narrow focused blog about consumables, items, gear, and such. Would’ve talked about gear guides, where to get them, combinations, criticisms and so forth.
Why it got rejected: Almost as exciting as watching a Holy Paladin and a Resto Druid duel.

The Battle Standard

What it could’ve been done: All PvP talk, all the time, with news, opinion, highlight reel finishers and so forth about Arenas, BGs, and world PvP.
Why it got rejected: I have to actually PvP. I have enough time to either PvP or raid. I can’t do one or the other really well. I also need to have some credibility and having a low arena rating doesn’t do much to inspire justice (although ~1550 in BG9 actually isn’t that bad).

Now that’s not to say that any of these ideas are bad. I merely listed why they were bad for me (at least for now). I think a cunning and motivated blogger could take any of these ideas and make it work really well.

With this in mind, what types of unorthodox WoW blogs can you think of?

The Search Continues…

Image courtesy of hberends

Matt and I want to thank you for the overwhelming response we have received so far to our call for submissions - they have impressed us in terms of quantity as well as quality. We really shouldn’t have been surprised, considering the existing quality and participation we see from the community around this blog every day, but we were a little caught off guard by the enthusiasm!

We have decided to leave the casting-call open for a week. All submissions must be entered by midnight, Pacific Daylight Time on August 20th.

Again, the subject is a 500 or so word article on your thoughts about WotLK. Please use the contact form to send in your post (That way it is sent to both of us.)

The prize is a spot on the World of Matticus staff - an unpaid, glamorous job characterized by fraternization with the coolest bloggers in Azeroth, Outland, and Northrend.

Thanks in advance, and we look forward to hearing from you!

Luv,
Matt & Wyn

Secret’s Out - Matticus a Part of WoW Insider

Image courtesy of musya

I’ve joined ranks with one of the top WoW blogs in the community: WoW Insider. Their Spiritual Guidance section had been inactive for a while. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t the least bit nervous. I think the team also needs more Canadian representation! But you long time readers know me well enough to know that I never give anything less than 110 %. As I write this, I have a lot of ideas written down on my whiteboard. But that doesn’t mean I’m not open to anything else.

I will try to focus my columns around three central concepts:

• Specific Priest roles in raid encounters
• Priestly tips and techniques
• Being the best Priest possible

Who am I?

To all the newcomers who have never heard of me or what I stand for, understand that I am first and foremost a raiding healing Priest. It’s who I am and it’s what I want to do. Therefore, a majority of the columns I intend to write will end up in that subject area. If you look around my blog, you can see I write about a variety of topics such as guild management and raid leading in addition to being a Holy Priest. My current guild is up to Gurtogg Bloodboil in Black Temple and Hyjal is on farm.

Now that you know a little about me, I have to ask you one question. What do you want to read about?

Cosmo Challenge: Your Responses

Two weeks ago, I issued the Cosmo Challenge where bloggers were asked to rephrase titles from magazines and apply it to their WoW blogs. They’ve responded admirably!

16 New and Sexy Additions in 2.4 - Altitis
The "Friendly" Arena Advice You Should Never Take - Out of Mana
12 Ways to Get Ahead in Your Guild - Perpetuusmos Guild
Little Mouse Moves to Make Encounters Hotter - Frost Mage
Be an RP-Sex Genius! - Too Many Annas
How to Get Some Tail - Pure Shock Value
Be a Shamanistic Genius (while you level!) - Too Many Annas

Thanks for participating, guys! I have no idea what magazine to try next. Any suggestions?

Things You Should Know About Blogging

I added another part to my WoW blogging bible. It concerns some introspection on your part about who you are and why you want to blog. If you’re tempted about starting a blog for WoW or even for anything else, check it out first before committing yourself.

There’s even a little bit there about me and my motives for my blog. If you’ve ever wondered why I started this blog, now you know =).

How to Get Started Blogging: Parts 1 and 3

Since my University is on a mountain and it’s snowing like crazy in BC, my classes were canceled due to treacherous road conditions. Over at the Blog Azeroth forums, Rhoeyln asked a series of questions about blogging:

Hi, all. I’m going to follow past precedent and make a little request, here. I’m very new to the blogosphere, but I’ve been wanting an avenue in which to collect my long list of WoW thoughts. I want to start writing a blog. However, I feel like a very fat fish in very shallow waters. I don’t know how to move or breathe.

Could someone put together a list of steps to get started? What do you need? What should you have prepared before you publish? What does a successful schedule have to hold to keep the readers interested? What did you have put in place before you got started with the meaty-meat of writing?

Advice or resources to get the ball rolling would really be useful. Also, if anyone has thoughts about what the blogosphere hates or loves, needs or absolutely doesn’t need, I’d love to hear those, too.

Thank you,
~Rhoelyn

I started writing up a large response but then I realized it would be a lot larger then a simple forum post. With that in mind, I’m going to start writing a series of posts on WoW Blogging 101.

It will cover:

• Part 1: Before You Start
• Elements of a WoW Blog (features and such)
• Part 3: How I Write my Posts
• Writing and ideas in general
• Promoting your blog
• Commenting etiquette and ethics
• Statistics
• Extra resources and reading
• Conclusions and Final Thoughts

I don’t know when I’ll finish. But knowing me and my work ethic, I’ll probably finish within the week. Yes, I’m also aware I wrote this out of order. It’s how I roll! =)

2007 Best of World of Matticus

Boxing day shopping is one of the most grueling things anyone can do. It takes a lot of heart for someone to crawl out of bed at 3 AM to go line up in front of a store. This year I camped out in front of Best Buy to snag some swag.

This year I picked up some DVD-R’s (50 pack for $18.99), iLive iPod dock ($89.99), Rayman Raving Rabbids ($19.99 but dang if it ain’t an awesome game), 40 GB portable HD, and some other miscellaneous stuff.

2007 - World of Matticus debuts

I started this blog at the end of August because I was growing weary at the amount of Priests who were running around without a clue as to what they should be doing or the best way for them to maximize themselves as healers. BBB’s post accurately summarized my feelings on the topic.

Start your own blog (it’s free btw) and prove it. Write. Be brilliant. Show us how awesome you are and how crappy we are by comparison. Don’t just say it, DO IT.

What a brilliant bear. He’s way smarter than the average picnic basket to boot! He’s even secured a spot on WoW Insider!

I did exactly what he said. I went out, purchased my own domain and server because I had a vision. I wanted to help educate people and show them what works and what doesn’t. If they choose to follow my teachings, power to them. If they don’t, that’s perfectly fine. I wanted to be a resource for aspiring Priests and raiding officers. World of Matticus evolved from Priest topics to an interesting blend of tips, tricks, and techniques for the new GM or the officer (while maintaining stuff for Priests). The one thing that’s been a constant in all my guilds is a Holy Priest in a position of leadership. Maybe that’s just me. Anyways, that was my main goal: to help, to educate, and to teach.

I think I did a pretty darn good job for 4 months worth of work.

Statistical Growth

I never believed I could reach these kind of numbers by New Years. When I look at them, sometimes I’m still in a little bit of disbelief.

• Subscribers: 124 - At least it’s above 0.
• Posts: 150 - I’m averaging a little over 1.1 posts per day ever since I started writing back in August. Heh, I definitely would not have been able to make the WoW Insider quota.
• Comments: 490 - Feedback is always good to have no matter how much there is.
• Site Viewers: 10000~ - I installed Google Analytics around mid-October. Right now it reads around 9670 visitors. There’s no way to know for sure down the decimal, but I think a figure over 10000 is believeable.
• Site Views: 23000~ ~ Again, same reason as above. The actual figure is 21484 since I started using Analytics. Factor in the uncounted stuff during August and September, and it should be around 23k.

Bests Posts of 2007 - By Month

I’m not basing these on page views or popularity or the number of comments or anything else like that. I’m basing this list on what I feel is the best that I’ve been able to do.

August

• To Run a Guild is to Run a Business
• Never Allow Loot to be Wasted
• Priest Efficiency vs Overall Success
• Gearing Your Fresh 70 Holy Priest: My Recommendations
• Optimize Your Time Raiding

September

• Stamina: An Overlooked Stat for Priests?
• How to: Select Players for Your Raid
• Calling the Wipe
• Getting Your Leadership Skill to 375
• Loot Management Week: Karazhan (As well as the other articles in the series)

October

• Cooldowns! Use them
• Tanking and Healing Prince the Easy Way
• Avoiding Burnout
• How to: Properly Pickup Raid
• How to: Manage New Players and Loot

November

• 5 Ways to Survive Alterac Valley
  
• Choosing the Right Meta Gem
• WoW Struggles: Maintaining Reputation
• Fear Ward Sucks, Says Tremor Totem
• 5 Gaming Lessons from Matticus

December

• Staves vs Maces and Off-hand
• Raiding with PvP Gear a Bad Idea
• WoW Struggles: The Undergeared
• The Secret to One Shotting Heroics
• Healing Tips for 25 Mans: WoW Insidered, Matt Reviewed

One More Thing

If even one or any of my blog posts have helped you become a better player in any fashion, then I know I’ve done my job. Without your support and readership, World of Matticus would not be what it is today. I want to take a moment to thank everyone for reading my corner of the WoW blogosphere. There’s a lot of WoW Bloggers that I hold a lot of respect for even though we may disagree on some points. If I’m not able to read your respective blogs throughout the week, I would not be able to get through my lectures nor have (relatively) interesting topics to blog about. Galadria (whose been quiet lately), Ego, Fate, Megan, Mercuri (AWOL) Kestrel and Kirk for the Priests. Phaelia, Karthis, BBB have all been terrific. Gwaendar, Galohart, Rohan, who have done an admiral job representing my plate wearing brethren. Pike, One Among Many, and BRK of the sharpshooting variety. The insights of GMW and Leiandra continue to be valued.

There’s a lot more people I want to thank. All the Guests writers who have volunteered to help pitch in when I was not able to do so (Leiandra, Ryan, Brendan, TDQ’s Matt, etc).  My bed looks enticing right now. There are more blogs I’m following now but I can’t possibly list them all. Next year, no doubt this list will increase in size. Some of you will retire from writing or WoW entirely and move onto other projects. But that’s getting too far ahead. 2008’s almost here and I can’t wait to share another new year of WoW adventures with everyone as well as reading about yours.

Okay, bed.

P.S., to all bloggers, I’d love it if you all highlighted your best posts from ‘07!

Wordpress Slowly Becoming the WoW Blogging Platform of Choice

Renowned WoW Blogger BigRedKitty has migrated from his home on Blogspot to his own domain. A quick examination of his footer reveals that he too has switched over to the Wordpress platform.

Earlier in the week, Gwaendar (of Altitis) switched from Blogger to Wordpress. Not far behind him Before that, Ess also moved to Wordpress.

From the list of Blogs I follow on Google Reader:

Blogger

• Girl Meets WoW
• Aspect of the Hare
• Blessing of Kings
• Bubble-Hearth
• Gray Matter
• Musings of a Holy Hybrid
• My Dirty Little Secret
• Teeth and Claws
• Out of Mana
• resto4now
• The Positive Warrior
• XI-Perience
• Big Bear Butt
• Zanderfin’s WoW Casual Raiding

Wordpress

• Altitis
• Apathy Inc.
• BigRedKitty
• Egotistical Priest
• Kaliope’s WoW Crafting
• Kestrel’s Aerie
• Mercuri
• Mystic Chicanery
• Priestly Endeavors
• Resto4Life
• The Holy Light
• Lady Jess
• WoWGrrl
• Outland Bound
• My Dirty Little Secret

Blogspot Bloggers: 15 14
Wordpress Bloggers: 15 16

Conclusion: Both platforms perform as intended, but we’ve seen evidence of people switching from Blogger to Wordpress. I have yet to encounter a WoW Blogger switching from Wordpress to Blogger. Of course, there must be countless of WoW Blogs that have escaped under my radar so those numbers up there could very well be skewed in either direction.

So to all of you young Blogglings out there, I suggest saving yourself a day’s worth of effort and just using Wordpress initially instead of signing up for Blogger and then switching to Wordpress =).

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